Trade Me Tip – No contact from the seller – what now?

If you have not heard from the seller, and you have paid by internet banking rather then online via Ping or Afterpay, don't forget to send the seller your delivery address. It's a good idea to confirm to the seller how you paid, how much you paid, and if you used any special references etc so they can trace your payment promptly.

A very handy feature when you send your address, is that there is a Delivery Instructions box where you can write a short note to the seller eg Hi Joe, I've paid today :) or similar. The great thing about this message is that it's even viewable by the seller on Trademe in their sold items folder, plus it saves having to open up your email etc.

Just a note for sellers - If the buyer has written a note like this as a delivery instruction and you use Book a Courier, you will need to delete or edit the comment to reduce it to 20 chars max before a booking can be completed.

putting "contact Trade Me"as NONE of the pages work, or will load. I cant contact TM or the seller. I want my money back.

Hi Nerida, I'm sorry to read about what has happened with this trade and that you've had problems reaching us.

I'm not sure why the pages wouldn't be loading for you - have you tried using another device?

If you click here, you will be able to report this to us. If that still isn't working for you, visit the Contact us page where you can email or Live Chat with us.

STILL not able to load any of the pages you send me to, so not able to contact Trade Me, VERY frustrating. One I was able to get to, just send me round in circles, so utterly useless. Im about to give up, + accept my loss of money + no product, while the seller gets off scot free, with my cash.

Live Chat is operating right now and would be the fastest way to get things underway with this. Click here and you will be directed to the Contact us page. At the bottom right, you will see a blue chat bubble you can click on to be connected with a team member right away. Here's an image to show you what it looks like:

I have the same problem, paid $1000+ for a TV, seller has made no contact apart from the give bank details which were paid immediately. Now his account has been disabled. And nothing I do on TradeMe website works, when I click File A Report it doesnt show the item up to select. I want my money back.

Trevor I had the same issue buyer disabled account after paid. looks like there is allot fraud on trademe. I ignored my own instincts and paid via bank account not ping. lost $680 bux I think

Same issue as the rest of you. The seller has been disabled on Trade Me for bad deals. I will only buy through Ping now as it seems to be the only way to get anything back if things go wrong. I didnt lose as much money as the rest of you ($40)- but i had to save for months for a tablet for my daughters schooling. Shes disabled & needs a tablet - i cant give her that now & i feel like crap. I actually thought Trade Me would do more to help out in these situations - but they do stuff all. Im disappointed.

Kia Ora Meredith,

Sorry to read your trouble with that Trade.

Both Ping and Afterpay are backed with Buyer Protection - Afterpay allowing you to have a tablet for your daughter now whilst paying it off over four fortnightly, interest-free payments.

There is a Frequently asked questions page for Afterpay through Learn more

All the Best - Cheers.

hi can anyone help me,i won a auction and it still hasnt arrived,i have emailed seller to ask for a tracking number and she has not rsponded.the day after i won auction and payed for it,it was withdrawn by trade me.I tryed to open up the listing and it wouldnt let me and auction got deleted from my won folder so emaild the seller no reply,can anyone tell me how to contact trade me itself

Judr, if you look up to one of the other posts, Lucy shows and tells how to contact Trademe via their Live Chat. If the listing was withdrawn by Trademe it doesn't look good. Not sure why it would be deleted from your Won items though. Best get on to Trademe as soon as you can as it sounds like you may have been scammed.

how did you pay judr if via ping you should be safe

if bank transfer call bank asap so they can reverse payment

best to pay via ping under $2000 you get trademe buyer protection

I won an auction on the 2nd August, sent address via TM, to get postage costs, nothing from seller except the TM generated payment details email. Emailed seller on the 3rd, again on the 4th, placed blue feedback on the 5th asking to have my email replied to please so I can complete the trade. How long do I wait before reporting that the trade wasnt completed and give up? Seller has 3000 feedback and only 13 negatives, maybe something has happened to them? I dunno, sort've frustrating. and Yes I have of course checked spam folders. I wanted it sorted as I'm going away shortly for a few days and wont be able to make payment.

Kia Ora Alison,

Sounds like you have been very patient and considerate there,

TradeMe expects all Trades to be finalised within a week of the listing being sold therefore wait the week out - if you have no response from your Seller at the end of the week file the Dispute Resolution Tab in your Won items for TM to reach out to your Seller for you. Hopefully they are well and just delayed there.

If you are away prior to hearing from the Seller at the end of the week you can send a further email letting the Seller know when you can next make a payment for them which you intend to do on your return, once you know the shipping cost. 

All the Best - Cheers.

One of the big issues about "no contact " is the email they use on TM is not the one they use in daily life. So you may send umpteen emails to a traders registered TM email address , but they are simply not using or looking at that account as they have another everyday email account and dont have the 2 accounts linked. Another very annoying issue is often traders have a full inbox, so it will not accept your email, it just bounces back. Again this is often on the "rarely used" TM registered account, so they are blissfully aware there is any problem

Be careful, there are a number of TM accounts that have been hacked and the payment details go to a bank where your money will very quickly be whisked offshore.

TM and the banks know of this issue and are not doing much to help the victims. Look at the thread I started a few days ago, and a similar one by Nathan.

I wish trademe would up there protection against fraud. Seems too easy for these overseas scammers to make accounts.

Maybe up ping protection too 5k a start.

Can we officially add PayPal?
There needs to be a buffer protection for bigger transactions

agreed, Trademe do nothing to help either. I raised a dispute report before christmas, over the holidays they sent me a standard email asking if completed, I confirmed no. But thats it, nothing more I can do, other than disputes tribunal it seems.

But the rub for me is that Trademe are liable here, they provide a platform, why should I have to waste MY time going to tribunal when I am out of pocket, had one less xmas present to give and trademe send a tut email asking the seller to play nice, which presumably the seller ignores, and has done now for 2 weeks.

Especially when a seller outright lies, I was told on 17th Dec that I would have to wait until after the holidays as her courier was on holiday. I said umm, no, no couriers are on holiday at this time of the year, its the busiest season. That is when contact stopped. If she was honest I may have accepted it, but to tell such a blatant porker I find quite offensive, its an insult to my intelligence, which actually demonstrates the sellers complete and utter stupidity.

Hi did you pay via direct deposit or ping 

ping trademe has buyer protection up to 2k

Kia Ora Kris,

Sorry to read of your experience with that Trade,

The Dispute Resolution process does take time to work its way through the process - TM commented in a Post thread prior to the Xmas break they were inundated with Disputes & it was taking time to work through them - Unless they have specifically told you to go to the Disputes Tribunal your case will still be open.

This link is an excellent graph by Callum which walks through each step of the process and expected timeframes under normal workloads https://help.trademe.co.nz/hc/en-us/community/posts/6788974224527/comments/6791662789519

You can contact TM anytime for an update on the progress of your Dispute via their "Live Chat" facility - ensure you enter your Ticket ID number in the Chat window enabling staff to find your case easily. - I would not send in any further Drop down form info' as this has the potential to restart the process.

All the Best - Cheers.

Kia Ora Kelvin,

Buyer Protection cover is now up to $2,500. - Purchases by either Ping or Afterpay are eligible for this cover if the Dispute Resolution report is filed within the first 30 days of the Listing closing. - Beyond this and with payments made by Bank transfer or cash TradeMe offer support assistance in contacting your Seller if the Dispute Resolution is filed within 45 days of the Listing closing. - Cheers.

I need help with a seller who has gone ghost. I bought 3 items from him and paid via bank transfer for shipping and the items. He then stopped emailing me and has not sent the items. I have asked TradeMe to step in where at the moment they have resolved 2 of the 3 disputes and I am waiting for the third one to settle. The seller has had a long membership and a 95+% positive feedback rate but has since made some questionable trades. I haven't received communication from him since mid December.

John, probably best to make sure you have placed feedback now if you haven't already as you can only do that within 45 days although you can edit it later if reqd. I'd then contact Trademe and ask them for an update on the 3rd dispute.

Cheers, I've already placed negative feedback on the transactions but am lost trying to figure out how to contact TradeMe regarding the 3rd dispute - as I just end up getting referred to this page: https://help.trademe.co.nz/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000518892

Kia Ora John,

Refer to https://help.trademe.co.nz/hc/en-us/community/posts/7700264532377/comments/8711661800079

This gives you a guided step through to Live Chat with Staff - Cheers.

I purchased with a buy now an item for $134, not only has the seller not contacted, it has been three weeks and no item delivered, the trader said 3 - 4 days for delivery. The feedback of this seller shows that there have been many the same. If trademe is serious about making a safe place to trade, then these bad sellers should be given a warning and a time frame to either complete the trade or refund the purchaser in full. If they don't improve their ways then they should be hit where it hurts an have their trading rights either suspended or removed altogether.. Very disappointing.

Kia Ora Tony,

Sorry to read of the delay with that Trade,

3 weeks is a little long to be waiting for a 3 - 4 days delivery. There are clear timeframes for both Sellers & Buyers in which a Trade should be completed and any overdue delays reported to TradeMe do have notes put against accounts, further like behaviour may land Members with account restrictions/removal.

What steps have you taken to contact your Seller this far?

1. Have you emailed them?
2. Have you checked your spam / junk folder in case an email has ended up there?
3. Have you sent your address for Delivery through TradeMe?
4. Have you checked your Won items to see if a Courier tracking has been applied?
5. If messages was enabled that's another place to check, this is often a mis-connect between Buyers & Sellers.
6. Have you placed Feedback yet? - This normally gains a response.

Is your Seller 'In Trade'? - Is it possible this is a registered business company? If you think they may be you can look them up on the NZ Companies Register to possibly obtain contact telephone number(s) and physical address. New Zealand Companies Register (companiesoffice.govt.nz).

Daily emails to remind the of their responsibilities to either deliver the item or refund, no response.

Dispute #372931, you had no luck either.

This trader is bad news and should have their trading suspended or removed until all past grievances are fixed.

They have stolen my payment, and it's not just a few $$ 

This has actually put me off using trademe, so might take a break from buying and selling for a while.

Cheers Tony,

I am sorry to read that, 

You could try the online search through social media to track them down Otherwise your option would be the Disputes Tribunal, as TradeMe have possibly advised. - Initiating this process may just prove beneficial for you.

Reference: Making a Disputes Tribunal claim as a buyer – Help - Trade Me

I'm a Member just like you, I'm not TradeMe staff - Trying to give you a hand to track your Seller down there. 

I'll give them a bit longer to respond to daily emails, but I have probably been set up as spam by now.

Then I'll start doing the daily phone calls as they are a business and I have a number.

They really wont like that though as I am a night worker, so a reminder call at 3am every night might just do the trick.

People who steal money are scammers, so this trader definitely is one.